


Styx

by ViktoriaSpeaks



Category: Original Work
Genre: Afterlife, Death, Gen, River Styx, Styx - Freeform, The Ferryman - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-09 14:53:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19478206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViktoriaSpeaks/pseuds/ViktoriaSpeaks
Summary: Kharon is charged with ferrying those who have passed on across the river Styx.Most of the mortal souls he meets are unremarkable, forgettable.  Every now and then, however, one will shine brighter than the rest.Lucy's soul shines the brightest of all.





	Styx

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this an age ago, and for some reason didn't actually post it.

“Are you the Ferryman?” A mortal might have made a snide comment at that, yet mortal he was not and nor had he ever been. There were no others this side of the Styx, none who might steal away a poor lost soul or tempt them to stray from the assigned path. So it was designed and so it would always be; the Ferryman, alone for an eternity with only the pier, his boat and the raging currents of his goddess to accompany him on his long and thankless existence.

“That I am.” He replied, looking down to find that the soul who had spoken barely reached his hip. He was typically taller than those he ferried across, but even by those standards this one was tiny and oh so bright. She stared up at him with bottomless brown eyes, her head a mass of golden curls and a smile that could have eclipsed the sun.  _ This one _ , he knew with complete certainty, would be bound for the endless fields of flowers in her afterlife. “I am Kharon, guardian of the river and boatman to those who might cross. What might I call you?”

“Lucy.” She replied, smiling brighter still. She was barely on the cusp of leaving her teenage years behind, and while it seemed painfully too soon for her to pass it was also the right time. There was an innocence to her, unusual in one of her years, and she seemed ready to accept her fate without argument.

“I bid you welcome, Lucy.” He found himself smiling back, the expression a strange one on his ageless face. It would be a millennia before he met another soul as pure as this, he knew, and he let himself bask in it. “Have you the coin for passage?”

“Um-” The girl thought for a moment, brow furrowing in concern. “I haven’t got a coin, but I have got this.” She pushed a circle of metal into his hand,  _ M. Smith _ and a phone number engraved on one side, an address on the other, with a small hole at the top into which a split ring was still threaded. “Is that alright?”

“Yes.” He agreed, the disc warm in his palm, the pleasant heat of love filtering out from the metal and soothing the eternal ache. “This is more than enough.” She stepped aboard the boat, stumbling a little when it rocked under her slight weight though she swiftly righted herself.

“Do I get to choose where I go?” She asked, seating herself at the bow of the small craft when indicated to do so, glancing around with endless curiosity.

“The judges will decide, when we get there.” He replied, and she appeared crestfallen for a moment. “Worry not child, you are pure and good, your soul is bound for heaven I can assure you.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Lucy sighed, her expression shifting into a frown. “I don’t want to go to heaven. I want to go to the worst, most horrible part of hell - will you take me there?” Kharon was taken aback, his ferryman’s pole poised to push away from the pier and begin the short albeit slow journey across the treacherous waters.

“Why would you wish for such a thing?” He finally asked, and when she looked up at him, he was disheartened to find tears in her eyes.

“Because that’s where Daddy will be.” She replied in scarcely more than a whisper, fat tears spilling over her pale lashes and down her cheeks. A mortal might wish to swipe them away, to offer some comfort, but Kharon remained at his post.  He had seen souls weep before, it had numbed him to the sight, pain and anguish were not unusual amongst the dead and both emotions would always manifest as tears. Still, he had not expected this one to cry.

“Plead your case to the judges when you arrive.” He finally answered, pushing away from the safety of the shore and taking them out into the river waters. “They may allow you your whims.” Lost souls bumped against the side of the small boat, though they did nothing to hamper the craft’s progress, their time to cross being some time hence. The unburied, the equipped, those who could not afford the toll served their hundred years in the river waters until they were deemed to have paid.

“I waited.” Lucy finally broke the silence between them, watching as the far shore grew ever nearer. “After Daddy died, I waited. I kept him warm until he was gone, and waited until I could join him.” They pulled up against the far pier, an exact match to the one they had left some time before, the boat bumping up against the wood as Lucy clambered out. “Was I a good girl?” She turned back to him, a look of hope on her sweet little face and she sat to await his answer.

“Yes.” Kharon smiled, reaching out to gently pat the curls atop her head. “You have been such a good girl.” Her tail, which had remained motionless since her arrival, began to thump heavily against the gnarled wood of the pier. Taking his hand back, Kharon watched sadly as Lucy stood, shook herself, and trotted away down the well-trodden path to her eternity.


End file.
